Take-Two CEO Defends $70 Game Prices

During the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, CEO of Take-Two Interactive Strauss Zelnick was asked about the decision to add an extra $10 to NBA 2K21. Here is his statement:

We announced a $70 price point for NBA 2K21, our view was that we’re offering an array of extraordinary experiences, lots of replayability. The last time there was a frontline price increase in the US was 2005, 2006, so we think consumers were ready for it.

We haven’t said anything about pricing other titles so far, and we tend to make announcements on a title-by-title basis, but I think our view is [that we want to] always deliver more value than what we charge, make sure the consumer has the experience and[…] the experience of paying for it, both are positive experiences.

We all know anecdotally that even if you love a consumer experience, if you feel you were overcharged for it, it ruins the experience, you don’t want to have it again. [If you] go to a great restaurant, a really really fine restaurant, have a great meal and great service, then you get a check that’s double what you think it should be, you’re never going back.

So we always want to make sure that consumers feel like we deliver much more than we ask in return, and that’s true for our current consumer spending as well. We’re an entertainment company, we’re here to captivate and engage consumers, and if we do that then monetization follows.

Strauss Zelnick

My Personal Take

Take-Two has become one of my least favorite publisher in recent years. Zelnick talked a lot about customer satisfaction, however, it was 2K who put unskippable ads inside NBA 2K21. A fully priced AAA title. This honestly shows that companies like this only think about monetary gains. This in it self is not a problem. They just should not talk about customer satisfaction while also not caring about them.

Production costs have indeed increased. When we look at sports games however, we see that the only thing that changes is the player roster. Forget about paying $70, it should be somewhere around $20.

I will not be surprised if in the following years most big publisher will accept the $70 price tag. I do wonder what the player reaction will be like. Time will tell I guess.